Cockatoo eyesore now a site for soirees

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Cockatoo Island has been the site for a prison, grain silo,
industrial school, reformatory and naval dockyards. Now it is in
the midst of another transformation.

This time Sydney Harbour's largest island is being reinvented as
a public playground.

When work is complete, the 81-hectare site will house boat
storage facilities, a maritime repairs yard, artists' studios and a
permanent working population, said Geoff Bailey, the executive
director of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, which is charged
with returning seven harbour sites to community use.

"In its heyday 400 people worked here and we're keen to revive a
sense of that vitality and energy. About the only thing we would
rule out is medium-density housing," he said.

The first test of the island's viability as a public park is the
three-day Cockatoo Island Festival next weekend. The event, with
120 acts from at least nine countries, will be the first time the
island has been open to the public for 165 years.

The public's reaction to the festival had been excellent, a
spokesman for the trust said, with the island's 2000 camping spots
selling out within a week.

As well as musical acts over three days, the festival will
feature comedians, art exhibitions, cabaret acts, foodstalls and
laughter and yoga sessions.

If the festival was a success, it could become an annual event,
on Sydney's cultural calendar, Mr Bailey said.

Work on cleaning up the island has been under way for three
years and is due to be completed in 2012. It is the biggest site
clean-up in Sydney since Homebush Bay.

Decontamination was a priority, Mr Bailey said, with heavy
metals including mercury, lead and zinc being removed from
buildings and the ground. Also removed has been 155 tonnes of
contaminated sediment waste, 20,000 litres of contaminated waste
water and 28 tonnes of asbestos.

Despite the project's scale, very little cosmetic work has been
done on the island's buildings.

"The island's convict heritage is as significant as Port Arthur
in Tasmania, yet most people in Sydney don't know it's here," Mr
Bailey said. "The idea is to reintroduce people to the island."

The National Trust's executive director, Elsa Atkins, applauded
the project. "It's great that the public can go there and
experience part of our heritage, it's a fantastic opportunity."